As posted as the PSU website, Barret Peery is the new Viking coach. He apparently believes in keeping games fast paced.

"Peery plans that same rapid-paced attack on offense and defense at Portland State, requiring a deep roster to maintain the pace.

The offensive style should suit a Viking program that averaged 85.3 points last year to lead the Big Sky Conference and rank ninth in the nation. Portland State returns four players who averaged double-figures last season. Leading the way are SR G Deontae North (6-4, 13.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg), SR C Traylin Farris (6-8, 10.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, .618 FG%), SR G Bryce Canda (6-4, 10.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 57 3-pt FG) and hopefully SR F Braxton Tucker (6-6, 16.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg) who has played only five games in the last two seasons due to knee issues."

"Our roster fits our plan of attack with how we want to play. We need to be fast-paced at both ends of the floor. We want to pick up and defend 94 feet and make people uncomfortable. We don't want things to be easy for our opponents," Peery said.

"We will push the ball up court on makes and misses really quickly. We have no problem shooting in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. We are an "Early 10" basketball team. We would like to see the ball on the rim in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. It will be no secret that we will be an offensive-rebounding-minded team, creating second- and third-shot opportunities. Early 10 doesn't mean bad shots, but it means the confidence to shoot a good shot. We will instill that."

"Deante Strickland (5-10, Casper (WY) College) . . .will make a run at the starting point guard role." Pilots passed on Strickland: we'll see if it was a good move.

"The Portland State men's basketball team has been selected to place eighth in the Big Sky Conference Preseason Coaches Poll and ninth in the Big Sky Media poll . . ."

Lest anyone forget, PSU beat us here last year with Wintering on the court, before his injury.

If we can hit some outside shots and make some free throws, perhaps we can win this.

The Viks lost their exhibition against Western Oregon, but their message board speculated that was due to some lineup experimentation. Then, they beat Evergreen State 122-67 in an exhibition. I'm not sure what to make of that score, but that's a pretty solid beatdown. I don't know how Evergreen, as an NAIA D2 school, would stack up with Lewis and Clark, and NCAA D3 school, but last year they played and L&C lost 92-81.

I will say that Eastern Washington finished in the top of the Big Sky last year while Portland State did not. But...

Seems we will get a game between two teams whose fans have no idea what to expect from their teams.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:Seems we will get a game between two teams whose fans have no idea what to expect from their teams.

This contest could be about which team reaches 100 points first. In contrast to UP’s slow start against Lewis & Clark on Saturday, PSU jumped out to 41-12 lead before downing Evergreen State, 122-67 on Saturday.

As wrv mentioned, PSU runs what their new coach, Barret Peery, calls the “Early 10,” meaning getting the majority of their transition shots off within 10 seconds of taking possession. The plan is to play 40 minutes of continuous full-court pressure on defense while grabbing rebounds on both ends of the court for early shots.....all while going deep into the bench to keep fresh legs on the court.

PSU is a “new” squad with 7 newcomers (2 are walk-ons) including PG Deante Strickland, the Central Catholic grad and teammate of Josh McSwiggan at Casper College. Strickland is a very good player, but was not deemed “eligible” to enroll at UP.

PSU tends to attract a lot of transfers, and this year’s roster is no different with 12 of their 13 scholarship student-athletes having played elsewhere before enrolling at PSU. Probably the most intriguing transfer is 7-1/295 Ryan Edwards from Gonzaga. I’ve always been very impressed with Edwards when he was playing at GU, he just couldn’t crack the Bulldog’s talented starting lineup.

The best of PSU’s returning players is probably #3 Deonte North, and their best newcomer, besides Edwards, may be #13 Jamie Orme.

Again, as wrv wrote, last season the Vikings were 9th in the nation in scoring with a 85.3 point average….this year they expect/plan to exceed that number….

NoPoNeighbor wrote:"Danny Conners"... an alias? A pseudonym? Is he in the witness protection program?

Haha, if he is in the witness protection program it happened really early in his life.

He came to UP from Lakeridge HS as a freshman in 2006 as Danny Connors. I only remember him playing a couple of years of soccer, but as he was a biology major, that probably ties into chemistry and beer making pretty well.

That was actually a pretty fun game to watch as long as you can forget the outcome. Not to sound all depressed, but I have already resigned myself to the fact that this year will be more about rebuilding than last year. As long as you can look at all the potential of some of our underclassmen, then you have a reason to be hopeful. The only unfortunate thing is that we are rebuilding during the PK80 which is not the best look for ourselves.

Some of the good:- Fun style for the most part. We had some good runs that led to good leads. Shooting was pretty good for the most part.- Hartwich played some good defense (more on that later).- Some of our freshmen already look better than our seniors. They will be extremely fun to watch in a season or two: Walker, Shaver Jr, and Malcolm Porter especially. Let's go ahead and put McSwiggan and Franklin Porter in that group too.- We put up a lot of points despite the turnovers.- Chiles Center seemed to have a good environment tonight. Please, let that continue and not be hampered by this one result.

Some of the bad:- We cannot seem to hold those leads. But, I am going to attribute that in this game to more of a maturity and cohesiveness issue. That should sort itself out over time. I think it is a good thing for this team to have a little adversity in the learning curve.- When Hartwich has foul trouble the defense sputters. He also has the free throw situation still.- Some of our freshmen look better than our seniors. Which means that it is trial by fire.- We had a lot of turnovers. But, similar to the above, as we mature and come together as a team, I expect that to be less of an issue.

I don't think that we were outplayed by PSU or anything of that nature. I think the ball just didn't fall our way when it counted in the end and that is basketball sometimes. Play this game 9 more times and the series could have ended 5-5.

PSU 12-0 RUN OVER 2:23PSU 12-1 RUN OVER 2:23POR FGs: 0 OF LAST 5POR SCORING DROUGHT 2:33

Sums up the last few minutes quite nicely.

The common thought I had throughout the game was, "Nice idea, bad finish." Nice rebound attempt, but it slipped out and went out of bounds or in the hands of an opposing player. Nice pass attempt but you kinda overshot him and now it's out of bounds. Nice ally-oop but kinda need the ball for the point. Nice defense aggressiveness, but can't get into foul trouble early. Copying off of SC, I'll attribute that in to more of a maturity and cohesiveness issue.

Shaver was lit.

Phil still has to work on FTs. Can't be missing those at crunch time.

I liked the teamness moments where instead of going for the tough 2 someone passed it last minute to an open guy for a 3.

DoubleDipper wrote:Went to the Pilot House before last night's women's basketball game in hope of finally downing a Rogue Pilots Pale Ale, and was told, "everyone drank it up in the first couple of hours."

Disappointed.

Tried two pints of Pilots Pale Ale at the game tonight and found them to be just a bit too fruity and not as hoppy as I like.

Taste is obviously an individual appreciation, and the Pilots Pale Ale has a taste similar to the winner of this year's Alumni Brewers Fest at the Pilot House, so there's a good chance many of you will like it.

Hmm, do you suppose it was actually Danny's Pilots Pale Ale that won the Brewers Fest

Sound Vortex wrote:Phil still has to work on FTs. Can't be missing those at crunch time.

The guy gets a double double with 10 points and 18 rebounds along with 6 blocked shots and a steal with only one turnover..... and you focus on 5 missed free throws?

There were other issues out there.

I'll admit I didn't pick up on that initially. The stream was skipping for me at times and ended up muted the whole game because the audio was so out of sync with the video. Probably ended up missing a few plays here and there. Just watching the stats page doesn’t have that same excitement as the stream either.

I'm sure the commentators mentioned his career night. The site recap mentioned it. Now I'm aware of it.

I don't think the FTs was the biggest issue anyway. Just kind of a hey-remember-the-scrimmage sorta observation.